“Agreed,” Matya said, her eyes flashing. She took the
jeweled clasp from his outstretched hand and spirited it
away to a pocket in her dress. 1 will keep this as assurance.”
She knew that Trevarre likely would be distressed when he
found Tambor in ruins and his quest proved a folly.
However, if he was a man of honor, he would keep his
word. The doll would be Matya’s. I’ll take you to Tambor,
Knight.”
She spat in her hand and held it out. Trevarre looked at
her in puzzlement for a moment, then nodded solemnly and
did the same. They shook hands firmly. The bargain had
been struck.
*****
Matya and the knight set out with the dawn, traveling
east down the road to Garnet. The mountains loomed high
before them, like great gray giants. Their summits were
already dusted with a coating of snow, bespeaking the
winter that soon would blanket the rest of Solamnia.
Matya studied the kender’s map as Rabbit plodded on,
pulling the wagon along the jouncing road. The map was
terribly faded and crumbled a bit each time she touched it,
but Matya could make out the line of a faint road leading
south from the place marked Tambor. If the kender had
drawn in the highway to Garnet at all accurately, they
ought to reach the road to Tambor sometime around midmorning.
“‘Two giants point the way,'” Trevarre said. Matya
looked questioningly at the knight, who was propped up on
the bench beside her. “That was the sign the doll spoke of
that would guide me to the village,” he explained. “I
imagine it means two mountains, or some such thing.”
“You were going to try to find the village with
directions like that?” Matya asked.
Trevarre only shrugged.
“Humph!” Matya snorted. “If this maiden of yours was
going to all this trouble to get rescued, she might have
given you dearer instructions.”
Before Trevarre could reply, one of the wheels hit a
deep rut, and he winced as the wagon lurched roughly. He
was in better shape today than he’d been the night before,
but his face was still pale, and the roughness of the wagon’s
ride obviously was causing him pain. He did not complain,
however.
Midmorning passed and noon approached, and still
Matya saw no sign of a road leading north from the
highway. Finally she pulled on the reins, and Rabbit came
to a halt. “It’s time for a rest,” she said.
She fastened a feedbag over Rabbit’s muzzle, then found
food for herself and Trevarre. A jumble of massive, oddly
shaped granite boulders, warmed by the sun, lay next to the
road. The two sat on these as they ate a meal of cheese,
bread, and dried fruit. When they had finished, Matya
checked Trevarre’s bandages. “Your hands are gentle,
though your tongue is sharp,” said the knight, smiling at
her. Matya blushed, but ignored him and nodded in
satisfaction. The knight’s wounds had closed, and none of
them showed signs of festering.
“We had best be on our way,” she said, eyeing the sun,
which now shone directly overhead. She helped Trevarre
stand, offered him her shoulder to lean on. He smelled of
oiled steel and leather, not an unpleasant scent, she thought,
as the two started making their way back to the wagon.
Suddenly Matya froze.
“What is it?” Trevarre asked, looking quickly about in
alarm. “Goblins?”
“No,” Matya whispered. “No, it’s a face.”
She pointed to the boulder Trevarre had been sitting on.
They had not noticed it earlier, because the shadows had
obscured it, but with the sun directly overhead, Matya now
saw it as plain as day. The boulder was carved in the face of
a man.
The carving was weathered and cracked – it must have
been ancient – but Matya still could make out the proud,
kingly features, the aquiline nose, and deep, moss-filled
eyes. Looking around, she saw that other overgrown
boulders were parts of a man – one shaped like a hand,
another like a shoulder, still another like a boot.
“It is a statue,” Trevarre said in amazement, “a gigantic
statue. It must have fallen over years ago, by the looks of it,